bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2021–02–14
forty papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. World Neurosurg. 2021 Feb 03. pii: S1878-8750(21)00152-2. [Epub ahead of print]
       INTRODUCTION: World Neurosurgery (WN) is among the most influential peer-reviewed neurosurgery journals, and has had an explicitly global focus historically. The goal of the current study was to perform quantitative bibliographic and social network analyses to identify key contributors and trends influencing article citation patterns.
    METHODS: WN articles were searched using Web of Science and the sampling frame 1/1/1990-6/18/2020. Articles were sorted in decreasing order of total citations; the 200 most-cited articles were included. Bibexcel was used to calculate the H-index of the authors of the top 200 most-cited articles; VOSViewer was used to visualize networks by document, author, and keyword.
    RESULTS: Twenty-one individual authors published at least 2 first-author articles within the 200 most-cited manuscripts, including Hakuba (4 articles), Jaaskelainen (4 articles), Cho (3 articles), and Rhoton (3 articles). Authors with the highest H-index were Hernesniemi (5), Rhoton (4), Jaaskelainen (4), Hakuba (4), and Ausman (4). Articles by Huang (2006), Wieser (1982), and Foo (1981) had the largest number of links to other articles (connections between nodes). Ausman articles demonstrated the highest number of collaborations with co-authors who had also published top-200 articles. The most prevalent topics among included articles were neuro-oncology in the 1990s, cerebrovascular in the early 2000s, and skull base in the 2010s.
    CONCLUSION: Bibliographic analysis suggests that WN has published a wide range of novel and impactful research studies in neurosurgery, which collectively demonstrate strong collaborative trends in association with advancement of new tools and techniques in all aspects of neurosurgery.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; H-index; World Neurosurgery; neurosurgery; social network analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2021.01.121
  2. Orthop J Sports Med. 2021 Jan;9(1): 2325967120973688
       Background: Clinical research on the rotator cuff tendon is increasing, and new approaches are being applied to rotator cuff disease. Considering the integration of research resources and research trends, it is necessary to conduct an analysis of recent research on the topic.
    Purpose: To identity the research trends, influential journals, key researchers, and core countries of rotator cuff tendon research between 2000 and 2019.
    Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
    Methods: All the literature related to rotator cuff tendon research was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection on January 7, 2020. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were processed based on Web of Science and CiteSpace.
    Results: A total of 4131 studies, which included 3830 articles and 301 reviews, were obtained. There was an upward trend of studies on the topic, with small fluctuations in the past 2 decades. The United States had the most studies, and the number of studies from other countries increased over the study period. Most of the funding sources came from the United States. Articles in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery had the most citations for rotator cuff research. Frontier topics, such as arthroscopic repair, mesenchymal stem cell, and "platelet-rich plasma, were identified. The number of citations in 2018 (r = 0.280; P = .005) and 2019 (r = 0.307; P = .002) had a weak positive correlation with publication date, indicating that the more recently published articles had a higher number of citations.
    Conclusion: Valuable information on rotator cuff research based on bibliometric analysis was identified. Arthroscopic repair, mesenchymal stem cell, and platelet-rich plasma might be the research frontiers in this field, and researchers should focus on these topics in future studies.
    Keywords:  CiteSpace; bibliometric analysis; rotator cuff; top 100
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/2325967120973688
  3. Front Pharmacol. 2020 ;11 626502
      Background: Considering the pivotal role of inflammasome/pyroptosis in biological function, we visually analyzed the research hotspots of inflammasome/pyroptosis related to the brain in this work through the method of bibliometrics from the Web of Science (WOS) Core database over the past two decades. Methods: Documents were retrieved from WOS Core Collection on October 16, 2020. The search terms and strategies used for the WOS database are as follow: # 1, "pyroptosis"; # 2, "pyroptotic"; # 3, "inflammasome"; # 4, "pyroptosome"; # 5 "brain"; # 6, "# 1" OR "# 2" OR "# 3" OR "# 4"; # 7, "# 5" AND "# 6". We selected articles and reviews published in English from 2000 to 2020. Visualization analysis and statistical analysis were performed by VOSviewer 1.6.15 and CiteSpace 5.7. R2. Results: 1,222 documents were selected for analysis. In the approximately 20 years since the pyroptosis was first presented, the publications regarding the inflammasome and pyroptosis in brain were presented since 2005. The number of annual publications increased gradually over a decade, which are involved in this work, and will continue to increase in 2020. The most prolific country was China with 523 documents but the United States was with 16,328 citations. The most influential author was Juan Pablo de Rivero Vaccari with 27 documents who worked at the University of Miami. The bibliometric analysis showed that inflammasome/pyroptosis involved a variety of brain cell types (microglia, astrocyte, neuron, etc.), physiological processes, ER stress, mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, and disease (traumatic brain injuries, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease). Conclusion: The research of inflammasome/pyroptosis in brain will continue to be the hotspot. We recommend investigating the mechanism of mitochondrial molecules involved in the complex crosstalk of pyroptosis and regulated cell deaths (RCDs) in brain glial cells, which will facilitate the development of effective therapeutic strategies targeting inflammasome/pyroptosis and large-scale clinical trials. Thus, this study presents the trend and characteristic of inflammasome/pyroptosis in brain, which provided a helpful bibliometric analysis for researchers to further studies.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; brain; inflammasome; pyroptosis; web of science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2020.626502
  4. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Feb 16. pii: e2012208118. [Epub ahead of print]118(7):
      Citations are important building blocks for status and success in science. We used a linked dataset of more than 4 million authors and 26 million scientific papers to quantify trends in cumulative citation inequality and concentration at the author level. Our analysis, which spans 15 y and 118 scientific disciplines, suggests that a small stratum of elite scientists accrues increasing citation shares and that citation inequality is on the rise across the natural sciences, medical sciences, and agricultural sciences. The rise in citation concentration has coincided with a general inclination toward more collaboration. While increasing collaboration and full-count publication rates go hand in hand for the top 1% most cited, ordinary scientists are engaging in more and larger collaborations over time, but publishing slightly less. Moreover, fractionalized publication rates are generally on the decline, but the top 1% most cited have seen larger increases in coauthored papers and smaller relative decreases in fractional-count publication rates than scientists in the lower percentiles of the citation distribution. Taken together, these trends have enabled the top 1% to extend its share of fractional- and full-count publications and citations. Further analysis shows that top-cited scientists increasingly reside in high-ranking universities in western Europe and Australasia, while the United States has seen a slight decline in elite concentration. Our findings align with recent evidence suggesting intensified international competition and widening author-level disparities in science.
    Keywords:  citations; inequality; science; scientific elites; sociology of science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2012208118
  5. Clocks Sleep. 2020 Mar 30. 2(2): 99-119
      This study examined sleep research in athletes published between 1966 and 2019, through a bibliometric analysis of research output in the Scopus database. Following a robust assessment of titles, the bibliometric indicators of productivity for studies included in the final analysis were: Distribution of publications and citations (excluding self-citations), top ten active journals, countries, institutions and authors, single- and multi-country collaboration, and 25 top-cited papers. Out of the 1015 papers, 313 were included in the final analysis. The majority of the papers were research articles (n = 259; 82.8%) and published in English (n = 295; 94.3%). From 2011, there was a dramatic increase in papers published (n = 257; 82.1%) and citations (n = 3538; 91.0%). The number of collaborations increased after 2001, with papers published through international (n = 81; 25.9%) and national (n = 192; 61.3%) collaboration. Australia was the most prolific country in terms of number of publications (n = 97; 31.0%), and citations (n = 1529; 15.8%). In conclusion, after the beginning of the twenty-first century, the scientific production on sleep research in athletes has seen significant growth in publication and citation output. Future research should focus on interventions to improve sleep in athletes.
    Keywords:  athletic; bibliometrics; research output; scientific production; sleep; sports
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep2020010
  6. J Pain Res. 2021 ;14 343-358
       Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate the state of the present situation and trends concerning the global use of acupuncture for cancer pain in the past 20 years.
    Methods: Searched the Web of Science database from 2000 to 2019 related to acupuncture for cancer pain, and then used CiteSpace to conduct scientometric analysis to acquire the knowledge mapping.
    Results: Yearly output has increased year by year, and the growth rate has become faster after 2012. According to the cluster analysis of institutions, authors, cited references, and keywords, 4, 4, 15, and 14 categories were obtained, respectively. The most productive countries, institutions, and authors are the USA, Mem Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Mao JJ, whose frequencies are 196, 24, and 17, respectively. However, the most important of them are Australia, Univ. Maryland, and Bao T, owing to their highest centrality, they are 0.90, 0.21, and 0.09 separately. Moreover, cited references that contributed to the most co-citations are Crew KD (2010), however, the most key cited reference is Roscoe JA (2003). Keywords such as acupuncture, pain, breast cancer, palliative care, and quality of life are the most frequently used. But auricular acupuncture is the crucial keyword. In the cluster analysis of institutions, authors, cited references, and keywords, the more convincing research categories are multiple myeloma, placebo effect, neck malignancies, and early breast cancer, with S values of 0.990, 0.991, 0.990, and 0.923, respectively. Therefore, they can be regarded as research hotspots in this field.
    Conclusion: Based on the scientometric analysis in the past 20 years, the knowledge mapping of the country, institution, author, cited reference, and the keyword is gained, which has an important guiding significance for quickly and accurately positioning the trend in this field.
    Keywords:  CiteSpace; acupuncture; cancer pain; knowledge mapping; scientometric analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S292657
  7. J Foot Ankle Surg. 2020 Oct 08. pii: S1067-2516(20)30384-7. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: Hallux valgus (HV) is a very common deformity among foot disorders, therefore attracting strong interest from orthopedic surgeons. We investigated publication trends on HV in the literature.
    METHODS: The analysis was conducted through an electronic search of the Web of Science database for publications between 1999 and 2019, studying the data of origin through bibliometrics. The following search string was utilized: TI = (hallux valgus* OR hallux abductovalgus*) with filters for the English language and documents in article format. The "Bibliometrix" package of R software was used for the bibliometric analysis, and the VOSviewer was used to create graphs.
    RESULTS: A total of 789 articles were found in the electronic search, with 2,723 cited articles. The most common Web of Science category was Orthopedics (83.0%), and Coughlin M.J. was the main researcher in this field with the largest number of publications (17). The United States led in terms of the number of published articles (26.7%). An increase in the number of publications over time was noted, with 2016 being the year with the highest number of articles (78). The journal with the most articles was Foot and Ankle International, with 35.2% of the publications.
    CONCLUSION: The number of published studies on HV has increased rapidly since 2012. The United States ranks first in related research worldwide. The journal with the most articles was Foot and Ankle International.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; foot deformities; hallux abductovalgus; hallux valgus
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1053/j.jfas.2020.09.016
  8. ANZ J Surg. 2021 Feb 08.
       BACKGROUND: Impact factor (IF) is widely accepted as a measure of a journal's quality but it can be influenced by self-citation. However, the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) is based on journal prestige, excludes self-citation and considers quality of citations of a journal. This study aimed to investigate journal editors' use of self-citation and whether this correlated with IFs or SJR in trauma and orthopaedic (T&O) journals.
    METHODS: T&O journals on the SJR database were identified. From each journal, data including country of publication, number of annual issues, IF, SJR indicator and citable articles were extracted. The editorial(s) of each issue in 2018 were reviewed. The total number of times the editors cited their own previous work or their journal (in the preceding 2 years, 2016-2017) were identified. Regression analyses were performed to investigate the association of editorial self-citation with journal IF or SJR indicator.
    RESULTS: Of the 270 journals identified, 43 T&O journals with 151 editorials were included in the final analysis. A positive correlation between journal self-citation in the editorial and IF (P = 0.02) and SJR indicator (P = 0.02) was found. Citation by editors of their own publications within editorials also positively correlated with IF (P = 0.04) but not for SJR indicator (P = 0.19). There was a positive linear relationship between journal IF and SJR indicators (P < 0.01).
    CONCLUSION: Editor self-citation influences the IF and SJR indicators in T&O journals. Therefore, these metrics should be considered in conjunction with other factors such as audience, topics included and international presence when evaluating journals.
    Keywords:  impact factor; journal metrics; self-citation; trauma and orthopaedics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/ans.16546
  9. Front Neurosci. 2020 ;14 620555
      Objectives: To summarize development processes and research hotspots of MRI research on acupuncture and to provide new insights for researchers in future studies. Methods: Publications regarding MRI on acupuncture from inception to 2020 were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection. VOSviewer 1.6.15 and CiteSpace V software were used for bibliometric analyses. The main analyses include collaboration analyses between countries/institutions/authors, co-occurrence analysis between keywords, as well as analyses on keyword bursts, citation references, and clusters of references. Results: A total of 829 papers were obtained with a continually increased trend over time. The most productive country and institution in this field were the People's Republic of China (475) and KyungHee University (70), respectively. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (83) was the most productive journal, and Neuroimage (454) was the most co-cited journal. Dhond's et al. (2008) article (co-citation counts: 58) and Napadow's et al. (2005) article (centrality: 0.21) were the most representative and symbolic references, with the highest co-citation number and centrality, respectively. Jie Tian had the highest number of publications (35) and Kathleen K S Hui was the most influential author (280 co-citations). The four hot topics in MRI on acupuncture were acupuncture, fMRI, pain, and stimulation. The three frontier topics were connectivity, modulation, and fMRI. Based on the clustering of co-cited documents, chronic low back pain, sham electro-acupuncture treatment, and clinical research were the main research directions. Conclusion: This study provides an in-depth perspective for MRI research on acupuncture and provides researchers with valuable information to determine the current status, hot spots, and frontier trends of MRI research on acupuncture.
    Keywords:  Web of Science; acupuncture; bibliometric analysis; co-citation analysis; magnetic resonance imaging
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.620555
  10. Orthop Surg. 2021 Feb 07.
       OBJECTIVE: To perform a bibliometric analysis of research on articular cartilage repair published in Chinese and English over the past decade. Fundamental and clinical research topics of high interest were further comparatively analyzed.
    METHODS: Relevant studies published from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2018 (10 years) were retrieved from the Wanfang database (Chinese articles) and six databases, including MEDLINE, WOS, INSPEC, SCIELO, KJD, and RSCI on the website "Web of Science" (English articles), using key words: "articular cartilage" AND "injury" AND "repair". The articles were categorized according to research focuses for a comparative analysis between those published in Chinese vs English, and further grouped according to publication date (before and after 2014). A comparative analysis was performed on research focus to characterize the variation in research trends between two 5-year time spans. Moreover, articles were classified as basic and clinical research studies.
    RESULTS: Overall, 5762 articles were retrieved, including 2748 in domestic Chinese journals and 3014 in international English journals. A total of 4937 articles focused on the top 10 research topics, with the top 3 being stem cells (32.1%), tissue-engineered scaffold (22.8%), and molecular mechanisms (16.4%). Differences between the numbers of Chinese and English papers were observed for 3 topics: chondrocyte implantation (104 vs 316), osteochondral allograft (27 vs 86), and microfracture (127 vs 293). The following topics gained more research interest in the second 5-year time span compared with the first: microfracture, osteochondral allograft, osteochondral autograft, stem cells, and tissue-engineered scaffold. Articles with a focus on three-dimensional-printing technology have shown the fastest increase in publication numbers. Among 5613 research articles, basic research studies accounted for the majority (4429), with clinical studies described in only 1184 articles. The top 7 research topics of clinical studies were: chondrocyte implantation (28.7%), stem cells (21.9%), microfracture (19.2%), tissue scaffold (10.6%), osteochondral autograft (10.5%), osteochondral allograft (6.3%), and periosteal transplantation (2.8%).
    CONCLUSION: Studies focused on stem cells and tissue-engineered scaffolds led the field of damaged articular cartilage repair. International researchers studied allograft-related implantation approaches more often than Chinese researchers. Traditional surgical techniques, such as microfracture and osteochondral transplantation, gained high research interest over the past decade.
    Keywords:  Cartilage repair; Microfracture; Research trend; Scaffold; Stem cells
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/os.12888
  11. Orthop J Sports Med. 2021 Jan;9(1): 2325967120969902
       Background: Although citation analysis is common in many areas of medicine, there is a lack of similar research in sports and exercise medicine.
    Purpose: To identify and examine the characteristics of the 100 top cited articles in the field of sports and exercise medicine in an effort to determine what components make an article highly influential.
    Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
    Methods: The Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed databases were used to determine the 100 top cited articles from 46 journals in the field of sports and exercise medicine. Each of the 100 articles was then analyzed by 2 independent reviewers, and results were compared. Basic information was collected, including journal title, country of origin, and study type. Different categories were compared using descriptive statistics of counts or percentages.
    Results: The 100 top cited articles were published in 15 of the 46 identified sports and exercise medicine journals, with the most prolific being Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (n = 49), American Journal of Sports Medicine (n = 18), and Sports Medicine (n = 7). In terms of country of origin, the top 3 contributors were the United States (n = 65), Canada (n = 9), and Sweden (n = 8). The most commonly researched anatomic areas were the knee (n = 15) and the brain (n = 3). Narrative reviews were the most common study type (n = 38), and only a single study on the 100 top cited articles list used a randomized controlled trial design. The most prevalent fields of study were exercise science (55% of articles) and well-being (16% of articles).
    Conclusion: Narrative reviews from the United States and published in English-language journals were the most likely to be highly cited. In addition, the knee was a common anatomic area of study on the top cited list of research in sports and exercise medicine.
    Keywords:  citation analysis; citation counts; exercise medicine; sports medicine; top cited articles
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/2325967120969902
  12. Ann Plast Surg. 2021 Mar 01. 86(3): 329-334
       BACKGROUND: The journal impact factor (IF) is one of the most widely adopted metrics to assess journal value. We aimed to investigate the trends in the IF and ranking of plastic surgery journals (PSJs) over a 22-year period.
    METHODS: The Journal Citation Report 2018 was used to identify all journals within the field of plastic surgery from 1997 to 2018. We analyzed the IF of PSJs and that of the category surgery.
    RESULTS: A total of 34 PSJs were identified. The mean IF increased from 0.584 (median, 0.533) in 1997 to 1.58 (median, 1.399) in 2018 (P < 0.0001). Over the same time, the median IF of the journals in the category surgery increased from 0.914 to 1.883. The mean journal IF percentile of PSJs within surgery remained fairly stable (P = 0.999). A strong positive correlation was identified between the IF of PSJs and both the 5-year IF (r = 0.943, P < 0.0001) and the immediacy index (r = 0.736, P < 0.0001). The percentage of self-citations across the study period was fairly stable at a mean of 19.2%. A weak positive correlation was found between the IF and the percentage of self-citations (r = 0.171, P < 0.0001).
    CONCLUSIONS: The mean journal IF in PSJs has been trending upward over the last 22 years. Ranking of PSJs IF within the category surgery has remained unchanged. The self-citation rate has been fairly stable and correlated weakly with the IF. A strong positive correlation exists between the IF and both the immediacy index and the 5-year IF.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/SAP.0000000000002452
  13. Cureus. 2021 Jan 04. 13(1): e12487
      Objectives The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of country self-citation rate (SCR) among medical specialties in Saudi Arabia, and to assess the impact of self-citations on the country's total cites world ranking in different specialties. Methods SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) was used to collect data related to all medical specialties in Saudi Arabia for the period 1996-2019. The country SCR for the specialties was correlated with several bibliometric parameters and examined statistically. The specialties that showed a drop in Saudi Arabia's total cites world ranking following the exclusion of self-citations were identified. Results The median country SCR for 46 specialties in Saudi Arabia was 9.5% (range: 4.6-23.1%). The two specialties with the highest country SCR were Public Health (23.1%) and Family Practice (22.9%). Country SCR was significantly higher in the non-clinical specialties compared to clinical specialties (15.3% vs. 9.6%). It did not correlate significantly with any of the examined productivity indices. The exclusion of self-citations resulted in a drop in Saudi Arabia's total cites world ranking in six (13%) specialties only. There was no significant difference between the country's total cites and net total cites world rankings in the specialties. Conclusions Self-citation may be appropriate and signify an expansion of the authors' previous work. Country SCR in medical specialties in Saudi Arabia is relatively low and not affected by total documents and total cites. Non-clinical specialties tend to self-cite more. The exclusion of self-citations had minimal effect on Saudi Arabia's total cites world ranking, indicating that country SCR in the specialties is unlikely to impact its international scientific standing. Our findings do not support the argument for eliminating self-citation from citation-based metrics. We believe that more collaborative and global research practices should be encouraged.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; citation metrics; cites per document; country self-citation; medical specialty; saudi arabia; scimago journal & country rank; self-citation rate; total cites; total documents
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.12487
  14. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2021 Jan 12. 41(1): 111-4
       OBJECTIVE: To analyze the literature characteristics of the clinical researches on tumor treatment with acupuncture-moxibustion in PubMed database so as to provide the references for the study of acupuncture-moxibusion in intervention of tumor.
    METHODS: The articles on the clinical researches of acupuncture-moxibusion in treatment of tumor were retrieved from PubMed database listed till December 31, 2018. Using bibliometric methodology, the analysis was conducted on publication year, publication journal, author, country or region, research institution, disease spectrum and therapeutic regimen.
    RESULTS: A total of 143 articles are included. The publications are increased steadily since 2004. The articles are published in 64 international journals, of which, Acupuncture in Medicine (12 articles) and Integrative Cancer Therapies (10 articles) occupy the the largest number of publications. They are distributed in 18 countries and regions, of which, the top two countries are America (44 articles) and China (34 articles. The involved types of cancer include breast cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, etc. Acupuncture-moxibustion is mainly for complication and the comorbid disorders after treatment, such as pain, nausea and vomiting and fatigue at most. The regimen of acupuncture-moxibustion is determined by the symptoms and electroacupuncture is the main measure of treatment.
    CONCLUSION: Acupuncture-moxibustion is quite extensively involved in the treatment of tumor in the field of nervous (mental) system and digestive system. But the regimen of acupuncture- moxibustion needs to be further optimized and promoted.
    Keywords:  acupuncture-moxibustion; bibliometrics; clinical research; tumor
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.13703/j.0255-2930.20191125-0007
  15. Account Res. 2021 Feb 09.
      Scientific publications with compromised integrity should be retracted. Papers citing retracted publications might need cosrrection if findings depend on the retracted publication. While many studies have reported on post-retraction citations, few have focused on citations made before the retraction. We investigated the citation profile for a research group with 113 published concerns regarding publication integrity (CRPI). We identified 376 of their source publications that were cited by 5577 articles, and whether the source publication had a published CRPI. Of 6926 references to a source publication in these citing articles, for 3925 (57%) the source article had a published CRPI, while for 3001 (43%) it did not. Of these 3925 references, 3688 were in citing articles published before the source article CRPI was published. 166 citing articles containing 198 references to source publications were published after the corresponding source article CRPI was published (range 1-5 such references/article; 19/166 (11%) articles had >1 reference). In summary, many articles cite retracted publications, with the majority of these references occurring before the retraction. However, very few publications assess the impact of the retracted citations, even though the findings of many might be altered, at least in part, by removal of the retracted citation.
    Keywords:  Citation; Expression of Concern; Publication integrity; Retraction
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2021.1886933
  16. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Feb 10. 23(2): e25499
       BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have recently become popular research themes. However, there are no published bibliometric reports that have analyzed the corresponding scientific literature in relation to the application of these technologies in medicine.
    OBJECTIVE: We used a bibliometric approach to identify and analyze the scientific literature on VR and AR research in medicine, revealing the popular research topics, key authors, scientific institutions, countries, and journals. We further aimed to capture and describe the themes and medical conditions most commonly investigated by VR and AR research.
    METHODS: The Web of Science electronic database was searched to identify relevant papers on VR research in medicine. Basic publication and citation data were acquired using the "Analyze" and "Create Citation Report" functions of the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer and Bibliometrix, dedicated bibliometric software packages, for further analyses. Visualization maps were generated to illustrate the recurring keywords and words mentioned in the titles and abstracts.
    RESULTS: The analysis was based on data from 8399 papers. Major research themes were diagnostic and surgical procedures, as well as rehabilitation. Commonly studied medical conditions were pain, stroke, anxiety, depression, fear, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. Overall, contributions to the literature were globally distributed with heaviest contributions from the United States and United Kingdom. Studies from more clinically related research areas such as surgery, psychology, neurosciences, and rehabilitation had higher average numbers of citations than studies from computer sciences and engineering.
    CONCLUSIONS: The conducted bibliometric analysis unequivocally reveals the versatile emerging applications of VR and AR in medicine. With the further maturation of the technology and improved accessibility in countries where VR and AR research is strong, we expect it to have a marked impact on clinical practice and in the life of patients.
    Keywords:  augmented reality; bibliometric; medicine; mixed reality; neurodegenerative disorder; pain; rehabilitation; stroke; surgical procedures; virtual reality
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/25499
  17. F1000Res. 2019 ;8 1093
      Background: There is an increasing need to understand the wider impacts of research on society and the economy. For health research, a key focus is understanding the impact of research on practice and ultimately on patient outcomes. This can be challenging to measure, but one useful proxy for changes in practice is impact on guidelines. Methods: The aim of this study is to map the contribution of UK research and UK research funders to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) public health guidelines, understanding areas of strengths and weakness and the level of collaboration and coordination across countries and between funders. The work consisted of two main elements: analysis of the references cited on NICE guidelines and interviews with experts in public health. Results: Across the papers cited on 62 NICE public health guidelines, we find that 28% of the papers matched include at least one UK affiliation, which is relatively high when compared to other health fields. In total, 165 unique funders were identified with more than three acknowledgements, based in 20 countries. 68% of papers which acknowledge funding cite at least one UK funder, and NIHR is the most highly cited funder in the sample.   Conclusions: The UK makes an important contribution to public health research cited on NICE PH guidelines, although the research does not appear to be bibliometrically distinct from other research sectors, other than having a relatively low level of international collaboration. However, the extent to which NICE public health guidelines reflect practice at the local authority level is less clear. More research is needed to understand the sources of evidence to support public health decision making at the local level and how NICE guidance can be made more applicable, timely and accessible in this new context.
    Keywords:  Public health; UK; bibliometrics; guidelines; research funding
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.18757.1
  18. Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2021 Feb 03. pii: S0004-27492021005001206. [Epub ahead of print]
       PURPOSE: This study was conducted to analyze the profile and publication rate of abstracts in indexed journals presented in the cornea section at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting and to further identify potential predictive factors for better outcomes.
    METHODS: Abstracts accepted for presentation at the 2013 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting in the cornea section were sought via PubMed and Scopus to identify whether they had been published as full-text manuscripts. First author's name, time of publication, journal's name, and impact factor were recorded. A multivariate regression was performed to explore the association between variables and both the likelihood of publication and the journal's impact factor. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to evaluate the time course of publication of abstracts.
    RESULTS: Of the 939 analyzed abstracts, 360 (38.3%) were published in journals with a median impact factor of 3.4. The median time interval between abstract submission and article publication was 22 months. The multivariate analysis revealed that abstracts were more likely to be published if they were funded (OR=1.482, p=0.005), had a control group (OR=1.511, p=0.016), and had a basic science research scope (OR=1.388, p=0.020). The journal's impact factor was higher in funded studies (β=0.163, p=0.002) but lower in multicenter studies (β=-0.170, p=0.001). The Kaplan-Meier analyses revealed significant differences in the publication time distribution for basic science vs clinical abstracts (χ2=7.636), controlled vs uncontrolled studies (χ2=6.921), and funded vs unfunded research (χ2=13.892) (p<0.05).
    CONCLUSION: Almost 40% of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology abstracts were published within 5 years from submission. Funding support, basic research scope, and controlled design were the determinants of better outcomes of publication.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5935/0004-2749.20210019
  19. Eur J Psychol. 2019 Jun;15(2): 329-341
      Publishing one's research in peer-reviewed journals is generally acknowledged to be a valuable enterprise. This is particularly the case for academic and research psychologists who rely on publications for career status, stability, and advancement. Psychological researchers can devote extensive amounts of time to planning, conducting, writing up, and getting their research published in respected psychology journals, yet their work efforts in this regard have heretofore never been quantified monetarily. This article introduces the concept of a monetary equivalent value (MEV) of a published article in psychology. An initial basic linear equation is introduced that sets the dollar (or Euro) value of an article based on the median number of hours involved in publishing an article, the mean hourly wage of psychologists, and the 5-year Impact Factor (IF) of the journal in which the article is published. MEVs were calculated for the full range of journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA) that have IF ratings. MEV values varied widely, from a low of $4,562 for an article published in the journal "Dreaming", to a high of $131,613 for an article appearing in "Psychological Bulletin". This article represents the first to explore the MEV as an additional metric to understand the impact of published articles, and as such this exploratory study has numerous limitations. Chief among these is the study's reliance on the controversial Journal Citation Reports (JCR) journal impact factor metric, as well as its extrapolation from a limited medical literature on the average number of hours involved in publishing a study.
    Keywords:  impact factor; monetary equivalent value (MEV); psychologists’ salaries; psychologists’ work hours; research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v15i2.1595
  20. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 05. pii: 1542. [Epub ahead of print]18(4):
      Considering that radiology is still a male-dominated specialty in which men make up more than two thirds of the workforce, this systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the current role of women in radiological imaging, focusing on the main aspects such as career progression, leadership, academic practice, and perceived discrimination. Three electronic databases were searched up to 21 October 2020. To identify additional records, weekly automatic email alerts were set up on PubMed until December 2020 and reference lists of key studies and included papers were screened. Two reviewers independently performed the search, study selection, quality appraisal, data extraction, and formal narrative synthesis. In case of disagreement, a third reviewer was involved. Across the 61 included articles, women worked more often part-time and held fewer positions of power in hospitals, on editorial boards, and at the academic level (associate and full professors). Women were less often in relevant positions in scientific articles, had fewer publications, and had a lower H-index. Discrimination and sexual harassment were experienced by up to 40% and 47% of female radiologists, respectively. Our study highlights that women in radiology are still underrepresented and play a marginal role in the field, struggling to reach top and leading positions.
    Keywords:  female empowerment; gender inequality; radiology; women
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041542
  21. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Feb 09. pii: keab134. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: The representation of women among authors of peer reviewed scientific papers is gradually increasing. The aims of this study were to examine the trend of the proportion of women among authors in the field of rheumatology during the last two decades.
    METHODS: Articles published in journals ranked in the top quartile of the field of rheumatology in the years 2002-2019 were analyzed. The authorship positions of all authors, country of the article's source and manuscript type were retrieved by specifically designed software.
    RESULTS: Overall, 153,856 author names were included in the final analysis. Of them, 55,608 (36.1%) were women. There was a significant rise in the percentage of women authors over time (r = 0.979, P < 0.001) from 30.9% in 2002 to 41.2% in 2018, with a slight decline to 39.8% in 2019. There were significantly fewer women in the senior author positions compared to the first author positions (24.3% in senior position Vs. 40.9% as first author, p < 0.001).
    CONCLUSION: The proportion of women among authors of rheumatology articles has increased over the years, both in general and as a first or senior author, however, their proportion is still less than 50% and there is still a gap between the proportion of women among first authors and the proportion of women among senior authors.
    Keywords:  Epidemiology; Health Care; Health services research; Medical education; Quality Indicators
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keab134
  22. Fam Med. 2021 Feb;53(2): 92-97
       BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Women have increased in presence within academic family medicine over time yet remain underrepresented among senior faculty. Mentorship is a mechanism by which senior faculty support scholarly achievements, accelerating advancement of junior faculty.
    METHODS: We analyzed 10 years (2008-2017) of original research articles in three peer-reviewed family medicine journals. We examined first author/last author pairs by gender as a proxy for mentorship of junior faculty by senior faculty. We compiled family medicine faculty data across 9 years to compare trends in scholarly mentorship with faculty advancement.
    RESULTS: Female last authorship increased from 28.8% (55/191) of original research articles with a first and last author in 2008 to 41.8% (94/225) in 2017. The share of female first authors on articles with a female last author was 56.4% in 2008 and 2017. The share of female first authors on articles with a male last author increased from 41.2% (56/136) to 55.7% (73/131) between 2008 and 2017. From 2009-2017, the proportion of women increased for assistant, associate, and full professor roles, but remained under 50% for the associate professor role and at 35% for professorship in 2017.
    CONCLUSIONS: Despite disproportionate rates of last authorship and senior faculty positions in family medicine departments, senior female authors have equal if not greater rates of mentorship of female first authors in family medicine literature. The increase in first authorship, last authorship, and faculty position indicates that improvements have occurred in gender advancement over the study period, but gains are still needed to improve gender equity within the field.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2021.355251
  23. J Am Acad Orthop Surg Glob Res Rev. 2021 Feb 10. 5(2):
       BACKGROUND: Methodological quality and author internationality are increasing in orthopaedic surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the methodological quality and author geography trends from 1994 to 2019 in high-quality foot and ankle journals.
    METHODS: Analyses of 1,242 foot and ankle publications in Foot and Ankle International, American Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and American Journal of Sports Medicine were done for 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. Articles were classified according to study type, level of evidence (LOE), and author's country of publication.
    RESULTS: The most common clinical study was therapeutic (65.4). Significant increases were noted in the proportion of therapeutic (P < 0.01) and prognostic (P < 0.01) articles. The average LOE increased from 3.96 ± 1.01 to 3.19 ± 0.97 (P < 0.01). The proportion of Level I (P = 0.29) and level IV articles (P = 0.21) remained constant, level II (P < 0.01) and level III (P < 0.01) articles increased, and level V (P < 0.01) articles decreased. United States authorship decreased from 78.1% in 1994 to 44.8% in 2009, then remained constant through 2019 (P < 0.01).
    CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated an improvement in LOE of foot and ankle publications across a 25-year period in three high-quality orthopaedic journals. Increasing internationality was also observed.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5435/JAAOSGlobal-D-20-00154
  24. Psychiatry Res. 2021 Feb 03. pii: S0165-1781(21)00079-2. [Epub ahead of print]298 113782
      The aim of our study is to investigate the social and electronic media attention received by psychiatry research using the Altmetric attention scores (AAS) and the predictors of this public engagement. We analyzed all research articles published in 2016 in the top 5 impact factor-based psychiatry journals. We extracted the AAS, various media (news, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) engagements, and citations received by each article using online database. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analysis was performed. A total of 360 research articles published in JAMA Psychiatry, The Lancet Psychiatry, World Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics were included. The median AAS was 44 [IQR = 15 - 146] and median citations were 26 (14-47) with a significant but weak correlation (rs = 0.43; p = 0.001) between the two metrics. The multivariate model found that the significant predictors of an 'article's higher AAS were its journal of publication, article type, and the topics addressed in the article (impact of lifestyle on mental well-being, suicide, and addiction). In conclusion, we found a very high degree of public engagement with psychiatry research, especially when compared to other medical specialties. This highlights great opportunity as well as responsibility for psychiatry research community.
    Keywords:  AAS; Addiction; Altmetric; Electronic media; News media; Social media; Suicide
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113782
  25. Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2020 Dec;36(6): 772-773
       Abstract: Objective To understand the trend of funding in the field of forensic science by analyzing the projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Methods Based on the data of funded projects in the field of forensic science published on NSFC website in the twenty years from 2000 to 2019, the trend of project number and fund, project type, discipline type, funded institution and personnel were analyzed with metrological methods. The funding theme was analyzed through multi-methods. Results In the twenty years, NSFC funded 352 projects in the field of forensic science, including 9 project types, 47 institutions and 213 persons. General programs (184 projects), forensic toxicology, pathology, and toxicology analysis (H2301, 188 projects), and the Academy of Forensic Science (37 projects) had the most funded projects. NSFC funded 174.69 million yuan in the field of forensic science. The Excellent Young Scientists Fund (3.50 million yuan/project), forensic toxicology, pathology, and toxicology analysis (H2301, 78.64 million yuan), and Xi'an Jiaotong University (23.78 million yuan) had the most funding. The differences in the number and funding of subsidized projects between the first ten years and the last ten years had statistical significance (P<0.05). The main targets of funding were toxicology research, evidence-related research, estimation-related research, brain injury research, et al. The field of research mainly funded from 2010 to 2019 was interdisciplinary research. Conclusion Since 2010, the number of project, funding of project, the number of institutions and persons funded by NSFC in the field of forensic science showed an increasing trend. The types of disciplines, types of projects and themes of projects are more diverse, which will promote the long-term development of basic forensic research in China.
    Keywords:  forensic medicine; scientometrics; National Natural Science Foundation of China; funding support
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12116/j.issn.1004-5619.2020.06.006
  26. Natl Med J India. 2020 Jan-Feb;33(1):33(1): 24-30
      The Medical Council of India (MCI) has made research publications in indexed medical journals an obligatory requirement for promotion of medical teachers. In 2015, MCI guidelines said the first and the second author would receive credit for a research paper. In 2017, the amended guidelines provided credit to the first and the corresponding authors instead. We reviewed the common types of authorship order in medical publications from across the world and noted that before the 1990s, corresponding authors were rarely acknowledged and were not considered more important than any of the co-authors. By 2016, the corresponding author was usually the first or the last author. With an increase in collaborative research globally, more and more papers are published with multiple first, last or corresponding authors. Some journals have revised their Instructions to Authors to acknowledge co-first authors equally. Since 2017, PubMed also displays equal contributors in the author byline while still allowing searches for 'First author' and 'Last author' supporting the 'first and last author emphasis'. However, most guidelines mention that the authorship order is a collective decision of the authors. Any association between authorship sequence and credit for an article is debatable. Some journals allow or even insist on authorship statements to explain each contributor's role. Standardized vocabularies and taxonomies such as the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) system can highlight contributions of individual authors. Some suggest doing away with the authorship order altogether. Readers and assessors should look at the 'author contribution details' rather than the 'authorship order' before drawing any conclusions about contributions of each author.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-258X.308238
  27. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 09. pii: 1663. [Epub ahead of print]18(4):
      The present study aimed to identify the trends in research on accidental falls in older adults over the last decade. The MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) and entry terms were applied in the Web of Science Core Collection. Relevant studies in English within articles or reviews on falls in older adults were included from 2010 to 2020. Moreover, CiteSpace 5.6.R5 (64-bit) was adopted for analysis with scientific measurements and visualization. Cooper Cyrus, Stephen R Lord, Minoru Yamada, Catherine Sherrington, and others have critically impacted the study of falls in older adults. Osteoporosis, dementia, sarcopenia, hypertension, osteosarcopenia, traumatic brain injury, frailty, depression, and fear of falling would be significantly correlated with falls in older adults. Multiple types of exercise can provide effective improvements in executive cognitive performance, gait performance, quality of life, and can also lower the rates of falls and fall-related fractures. Fall detection, hospitalization, classification, symptom, gender, and cost are the current research focus and development direction in research on falls in older adults. The prevention of falls in older adults is one of the most important public health issues in today's aging society. Although lots of effects and research advancements had been taken, fall prevention still is uncharted territory for too many older adults. Service improvements can exploit the mentioned findings to formulate policies, and design and implement exercise programs for fall prevention.
    Keywords:  CiteSpace; accidental falls; knowledge domain visualization; older adults; research hotspot
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041663
  28. PLoS One. 2021 ;16(2): e0244618
      Just like everything in nature, scientific topics flourish and perish. While existing literature well captures article's life-cycle via citation patterns, little is known about how scientific popularity and impact evolves for a specific topic. It would be most intuitive if we could 'feel' topic's activity just as we perceive the weather by temperature. Here, we conceive knowledge temperature to quantify topic overall popularity and impact through citation network dynamics. Knowledge temperature includes 2 parts. One part depicts lasting impact by assessing knowledge accumulation with an analogy between topic evolution and isobaric expansion. The other part gauges temporal changes in knowledge structure, an embodiment of short-term popularity, through the rate of entropy change with internal energy, 2 thermodynamic variables approximated via node degree and edge number. Our analysis of representative topics with size ranging from 1000 to over 30000 articles reveals that the key to flourishing is topics' ability in accumulating useful information for future knowledge generation. Topics particularly experience temperature surges when their knowledge structure is altered by influential articles. The spike is especially obvious when there appears a single non-trivial novel research focus or merging in topic structure. Overall, knowledge temperature manifests topics' distinct evolutionary cycles.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244618
  29. Am J Health Promot. 2021 Feb 09. 890117121992224
      Each year, the editorial team of the American Journal of Health Promotion selects our "Best of the Year List" of health promotion studies from the prior year. This editorial features the Editor's picks, the Editor in Chief's favorites and other award categories for the research and writing published in 2020 in this journal. Our criteria for selection includes: whether the study addresses a topic of timely importance in health promotion, the research question is clearly stated and the methodologies used are well executed; whether the paper is often cited and downloaded; if the study findings offer a unique contribution to the literature; and if the paper is well-written and enjoyable to read. Awardees in 2020 offered new insights into confronting systemic racism, the impact of state health policies on eating behaviors, the role of leaders in influencing employee health practices and the role of physicians in influencing patient health practices. You will see how researchers are studying psychological and emotional resiliency in ever more specific populations.
    Keywords:  best practices; best science; best studies; health disparities; health promotion; research methods
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117121992224
  30. J Dermatol Sci. 2021 Jan 30. pii: S0923-1811(21)00012-8. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: A wide gender gap exists in many fields in Japan, including the academic society of dermatology. Women are substantially underrepresented in the highest academic ranks.
    OBJECTIVE: We aimed to clarify the possible factors contributing to the current gender gap in the field of academic dermatology and to recommend necessary measures to decrease the gender gap.
    METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of faculty members' academic productivity at the dermatology departments of all the educational institutions in Japan in 2019.
    RESULTS: Women had significantly lower academic productivity than men. A significant gender difference in academic productivity was found in lecturers and assistant professors but not in associate professor and professor positions. This gender difference was still significant after normalizing the productivity for career length.
    CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest the need to encourage women lecturers and assistant professors to improve their academic achievement to decrease the gender gap in academic dermatology.
    Keywords:  Diversity; Gender equality; Gender gap; Gender imbalance
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdermsci.2021.01.011
  31. Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Feb 12. 100(6): e24610
       BACKGROUND: Comparison of similarity and difference in research types among journals are concerned in literature. However, to date, none display the methodology seen in selecting similar journals related to the target journal, as similar articles did to a given article. Authors need 1 effective method not only to find similar journals for their studies but also to know the difference in methods. This study (1) shows the similar journals for the target journal online displayed, and (2) identifies the effect of similarity odds ratio compared to the counterparts using the forest plots in Meta-analysis and the major medical subject headings (MeSH terms).
    METHODS: We downloaded 1000 recent top 20 most similar articles related to the Respiratory Care journal from the PubMed library, plotted the clusters of related journals using social network analysis (SNA), and compared the MeSH terms in differences in an odds ratio unit using the forest plot relevant to Respiratory Care and the most similar journals. Q statistic and I-square (I2) index were used to evaluate the difference in the proportion of events.
    RESULTS: This study found that (1) the journals related to Respiratory Care are easily presented on Google Maps; (2) 10 journal clusters were identified using SNA; (3) the top 3 MeSH terms are methods, therapy, and physiopathology, and (4) the odds ratios of MeSH terms between journals associated with the Respiratory Care showing different from Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmori Dis and similar to Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes within heterogeneity with I2 = 70.5% (P < 0.001) and 0% (P = 0.803), respectively.
    CONCLUSIONS: SNA and forest plots provide deep insight into the relationships between journals in MeSH terms. The results of this research can provide readers with a concept diagram that can be used for future submissions to a given journal.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000024610
  32. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 Feb 08. pii: ocaa344. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: This study sought to describe gender representation in leadership and recognition within the U.S. biomedical informatics community.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were collected from public websites or provided by American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) personnel from 2017 to 2019, including gender of membership, directors of academic informatics programs, clinical informatics subspecialty fellowships, AMIA leadership (2014-2019), and AMIA awardees (1993-2019). Differences in gender proportions were calculated using chi-square tests.
    RESULTS: Men were more often in leadership positions and award recipients (P < .01). Men led 74.7% (n = 71 of 95) of academic informatics programs and 83.3% (n = 35 of 42) of clinical informatics fellowships. Within AMIA, men held 56.8% (n = 1086 of 1913) of leadership roles and received 64.1% (n = 59 of 92) of awards.
    DISCUSSION: As in other STEM fields, leadership and recognition in biomedical informatics is lower for women.
    CONCLUSIONS: Quantifying gender inequity should inform data-driven strategies to foster diversity and inclusion. Standardized collection and surveillance of demographic data within biomedical informatics is necessary.
    Keywords:  awards; equity, informatics; gender; leadership
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa344
  33. Materials (Basel). 2021 Jan 25. pii: 565. [Epub ahead of print]14(3):
      The use of self-healing asphalt is a good option to extend the lifetime of roads and to improve the sustainability of pavement management systems. A bibliometric analysis based on the Scopus database was carried out to review the global research related to self-healing asphalt from 2003 to 2018 and to identify relevant quantitative characteristics from the research in this period. The results from this analysis revealed that the number of accumulated publications followed an exponential growth, which confirmed the relevance that this research topic has gained during the last years. The study revealed that China was the most productive country, followed by the Netherlands, where the most prolific institution is located: Delft University of Technology. Some important research features of the two main approaches most frequently used to develop asphalt mixtures with enhanced self-healing abilities (external heating and encapsulated rejuvenating agents) are compiled in this work.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; encapsulation; heating; induction; rejuvenator; research trends; self-healing asphalt
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14030565
  34. J Dent Educ. 2021 Feb;85(2): 108-109
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12554
  35. Ann Phys Rehabil Med. 2021 Feb 08. pii: S1877-0657(21)00012-9. [Epub ahead of print] 101494
      
    Keywords:  academic publishing; authorship; low income countries; physical and rehabilitation medicine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rehab.2021.101494
  36. Can J Surg. 2021 02 09. 64(1): E76-E83
       Background: Academic productivity, as measured by number and impact of publications, is central to the career advancement and promotion of academic surgeons. We compared research productivity metrics among specialties and sought factors associated with increased productivity.
    Methods: Academic surgeons were identified through departmental webpages and their scholarly metrics were collected through Scopus in a standardized fashion. We collected total number of documents, h-index, and average number of publications per year in the preceding 5 years. We explored whether presence of a training program, graduate degree, academic rank and size of the clinical group affected productivity metrics. Linear regression was used for multivariable analysis.
    Results: We collected data on 2172 surgeons from 15 separate academic centres across Canada. Wide variability existed in metrics among specialties, with cardiac and neurosurgery being the most productive, and vascular surgery and plastic surgery being the least productive. The average number of publications was 71, and the average h-index was 18.7. The average h-index for cardiac surgery was 25.7 compared with 8.3 for vascular surgery (p < 0.001). Our multivariable model identified academic rank, surgical specialty, graduate degree, presence of a training program, and larger clinical group as being associated with increased academic productivity.
    Conclusion: There is variability in research productivity among Canadian surgical specialties. Cardiac surgery and neurosurgery are productive, whereas vascular surgery and plastic surgery are less productive than other surgical disciplines. Obtaining a research-oriented graduate degree, being part of a larger clinical group, and presence of a training program were all associated with higher productivity, even after adjusting for academic rank and specialty.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1503/cjs.016319
  37. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Feb;pii: e004129. [Epub ahead of print]6(2):
       BACKGROUND: Previous review studies have not systematically mapped the existing body of knowledge on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Our scoping review addresses this gap by examining how the body of research on ASRH in SSA has evolved over the past decade, and its present profile, in terms of trends in volume, geographic and substantive focus, and Africa-led inquiry.
    METHODS: We used a three-step search strategy to identify English and French peer-reviewed publications and relevant grey literature on ASRH in SSA published between January 2010 and December 2019. Two reviewers screened the titles, abstracts and full texts of publications for eligibility and inclusion.
    RESULTS: A total of 1302 articles were published over the period, rising from 91 in 2010 to 183 in 2015. However, the bulk of the studies (63.9%) focused on six (South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia) of the 46 SSA countries. Ten countries had no ASRH papers, while five others each had only one publication. While issues like HIV (17.2%), sexual behaviours (17.4%) and access to sexual and reproductive health services (13.0%) received substantial attention, only a few studies focused on early adolescence (10-14 years), programme interventions, scaling up of interventions and policy evaluation. Just over half of publications had authors with African institutional affiliations as first authors (51.1%) or last author (53.0%). Sixteen per cent of papers did not include any authors from institutions in Africa.
    CONCLUSIONS: Our review demonstrated that research on ASRH is limited in focus and is unevenly distributed across SSA countries. The identified gaps can guide future research and funding to advance ASRH policies and programmes. It is also vital for stakeholders in the research enterprise, including researchers, donors, ethical review boards, and journal editors and reviewers, to implement measures that foster national investigators' inclusion.
    Keywords:  public health; review
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004129
  38. Scientometrics. 2021 Feb 01. 1-9
      Scholars all over the world have produced a large body of COVID-19 literature in an exceptionally short period after the outbreak of this rapidly-spreading virus. An analysis of the literature accumulated in the first 150 days hints that the rapid knowledge accumulation in its early-stage development was expedited through a wide variety of journal platforms, a sense and pressure of national urgency, and inspiration from journal editorials.
    Keywords:  Covid-19; Knowledge network; Literature analysis; Main path analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03835-5